Commentary This year, the Supreme Court will decide whether universities may continue to discriminate by race and ethnicity (pdf). The court’s consolidated proceeding includes cases against Harvard University, a private institution, and the University of North Carolina (UNC), a state institution. The Harvard case arises under federal civil rights law and the UNC case under the Equal Protection Clause in the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. This essay focuses on the UNC case. UNC’s discrimination is typical of state universities. It biases student admissions heavily against white and Asian-American applicants and favors African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians. UNC, like other universities, asserts that its discrimination is driven by educational needs. I believe that is a pretext. I believe such programs are driven principally by left-wing politics. If UNC wants to defend racial discrimination as educationally necessary, then it should be forced to pony up the proof—with real and quantified data. Not …